Hidden Sentiment: Family Holiday
by DeborahsFrench
Summary: Story 4/5. Jac and Joseph get dragged onto going on holiday with Elle. Multi-Chapter story.
1. Make A Splash

**A/N**. **I have decided that this part of the series will be a multi chapter Fanfiction as there are so many elements that I wanted to include and I believe the extent of it would be too long to be accepted as a one shot, I also wanted to give you the next instalment of this series and this is the first full part I have written. As in any of the series, suggestions are welcome, although not always used, however, anything to help towards this Fanfiction would be greatly accepted. Rambling over, time for the first part:**

**Chapter 1: Make A Splash**

"Please, please, please, please, please!" Elle begged her hands clasped in front of her, pouting ever so slightly.

"I don't know, Elle, we have a busy work schedule, I don't think we can get some time off…" Joseph informed her, and Elle's eyes saddened.

"Bu… But, it's meant to be a _family _holiday, it isn't family without you!" She pleaded once again.

"Fine, I will see what I can do." He spoke louder to make himself heard over her joyful 'yes!' "But I will need to speak with Jac and then we might be able to come. But please don't get your hopes up." He looked into her eyes just as she began shaking her head.

"No, I won't. I promise!" She flashed him a big dimpled smile which made Joseph smile back, alright then. Now, you keep playing in her while I work, okay?" He asked and Elle nodded her head. Placing a soft kiss on her forehead he patted her shoulder and left.

Walking back onto the ward, he met the short smile of Jac, which made him feel a slight bit better; knowing there was no way they would be able to go, and even if he could find the days off, he did not know if Jac would have the days off. He took a deep breath and re-opened his eyes to see Jac walking towards him.

"Hey." She said, her eyes shifting around checking if anyone was watching before she leaned in and kissed him.

"Hello to you too." He kissed her back before pulling away and looking at her slight shiftiness. "What's wrong?" Her eyes snapped to his face.

"Nothing…" She knew it was no use, "I just don't want to start anything. You know, about our relationship, around the hospital." She said and now Joseph smiled.

"Jac, we're engaged. They can think whatever the hell the want anymore." He leaned back in and softly kissed her again, before holding her hand. "It's alright anyway." Both of his eyebrows creased in confusion, "Where's your ring?" Jac now panicked, not because she had lost it.

"I… um… I haven't worn it to work for the past few weeks." She said. "I've never worn it to work actually."

"Jac." He gave her a stern look.

"Sorry! I just, I didn't want the big fuss, or anything like that, and besides, I never wanted it to get in the way of my work. I want to be strictly professional." She bit her lip tenderly, which made Joseph go crazy; there was no way he could moan now.

"Alright…" He took a deep breath, "I have something else to distract you." He said.

"Like?" Jac asked a small smile growing on her face.

"Well…"

"A caravan?" Was all Jac asked as they both stood outside a shabby little caravan park.

"Oh, come on, it will be fun. Beside's, Elle is going to be made up to see us!" A quick kiss on the cheek and he began walking over towards the caravan door of caravan E-24. As Joseph opened the door, Jac held back a smile, slightly amused about thinking if this was the wrong caravan, but as two small arms were thrown around Joseph's neck and she heard Elle's shriek.

"Uncle Joe!" She exclaimed with excitement, and the second Joseph put her down on the caravan floor, she had thrown herself onto Jac. "Aunt Jac!" She smiled happily.

"Hey, sweetie." She put a soft kiss on her forehead and put her on the floor.

"I knew you were going to come! We're going to have so much fun and do everything!" Elle smiled happily and bounced around the caravan listing things off.

"Actually, Darling, we're here for two days. Then we have to get back to London, but I'm sure we can do a lot of things tomorrow and Wednesday." He patted her head softly, to stop the disappointment.

"We can do lots!" She smiled widely and Joseph gave her a nod in approval.

"What do we do tonight then?" He asked, sitting down on the crappy sofa at one end of the small caravan.

"I dunno." Elle paused, in thought before it looked like she had a brainwave idea, "I'll go check!" In a second she had bombed off to the other side of the caravan, each of her footsteps being heard down at the couch end. Then all went silent…

Joseph looked to a still standing Jac who gave a shrug of her shoulders before his left hand held onto her right wrist and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her passionately before hearing a distant coughing and both pulled apart to see Elle's mother standing in the kitchen giving a slight look of disapproval.

"Jac, Amelia, Amelia, Jac." He introduced them.

"Hi." Amelia nodded over to Jac and she gave a smile back with a small nod. Joseph put his hands on her waist and placed her on the couch next to him before standing and giving Amelia a hug.

"Thanks for coming." She said.

"Of course I was coming, you know I'd do anything for that little girl." A nod.

"I think you just made her holiday better, she's been quite a grumpy guts all the time we've been here." Amelia informed him.

"It's no problem really." Pausing, he looked around, "Where's Aaron?"

"Oh, he's over at my brother's caravan, trying to sort out dinner arrangements and swimming. It seems he's the only one of the lot that can swim, but with five children wanting to go, we need to fix something." She sighed.

"Ah, I don't mind swimming, and I'm sure Jac's brought along her costume. I'm sure three of us will be fine with the five of them." Jac gave a nod from behind him.

"Really? It's only four anyway, because CJ is old enough to go off on his own. He can probably look after one of them anyway." She informed him and Joseph nodded.

"Right, how long until dinner?" He asked.

"There's a good few hours before that and the swimming pool shuts in about a couple of hours which is plenty of time." Joseph nodded, probably should find Aaron then, tell him to get the kids changed."

"If Jac doesn't mind getting Elle changed, I'll walk you over to their caravan." Jac's eyes snapped up in hearing her name.

"Uh? Oh, sure. I don't mind." Amelia gave her a nod and a smile before turning down the heat on the stove.

"You're bedroom is down the hall and it's straight up to the back, right next to the back door." Jac nodded watching them both leave before taking their 'suitcases' to the tidy room and putting them on the bed. She began routing around in her own bag to get her costume out when she heard another bedroom door open and through the cardboard box caravan it echoed.

"Elle, sweetheart." She called and a second later she appeared in her door. "Hey, we're going swimming, are you going to come?" She asked, and watched as her eyes light up as she nodded. "Go and find your costume and towel for me then." Another quick nod from the child and she disappeared.

In the time it took for her to reappear Jac had found her costume and laid it on her bed and put Joseph's on his bed.

"Found it!" She head Elle cheer in a 'eureka!' tone and the child appeared in the door way.

"Alright, let's get you changed." Jac took the towel and costume off of her before starting to unbutton Elle's top.

When Joseph arrived at the caravan he saw Elle and Jac sitting on the couch, Elle in a dress with her swim suit underneath it and Jac in a similar attire, he smile seeing them playing a game of cards.

"Give me two minutes and we'll be going." He informed Jac before disappearing into the bedroom.

The thin caravan steps echoed again and it seemed there were millions of feet on them as the caravan filled with people and children, all running crazy.

"Hi, I'm Gemma." A tall, blonde woman shook Jac's hand.

"Hi, Jac." She told her, unsure of what to do with all of the names she was being fed. Her eyes went to the hallway, and she was relieved to see Joseph standing there.

"We ready?" He chirped and a chorus of excited children's 'yes' came. "Alright. CJ, you keep an eye on Kai." He instructed. "I'll watch Elle and Aaron with Ethan, Jac, you've got Adam." She looked curious to see no fifth child there, but was soon filled in as she saw the pram at the bottom of the steps.

"Alright."

Elle smiled widely as they walked along the path towards the swimming pool. Behind her was a worried Joseph who was struggling to juggle between controlling Kai and Ethan as well as keeping an eye on Elle and carrying the pile of water wings and swimming vests.

"Do you want me to take some?" Jac offered, but Joseph shook his head.

"No, it's alright, you've already got Adam." His head nodded over to the baby in her arms.

"I have a free arm you know, now come here." She forcefully took some of the items away from him and then watched as he walked fast again to keep a close eye on the children.

A sigh came from him as he saw that CJ had stopped them at the entrance, making them wait for him and her.

"Where's Aaron?" Jac asked.

"He said he'd catch us up in a second, he just had to hunt for Elle's water wings." Jac nodded.

"Alright. I'll take Elle and Adam into the girls changing room and get us ready. Are you okay with Kai and Ethan?" Joseph gave a nod. "Alright." As they walked into the separate changing rooms, Jac took Elle and tried to find a large changing room. When she finally got there she firstly took off Adam's top leaving the small blonde boy in his grey swimming trunks and swimming nappy. From that, Jac could tell he was pretty young. No older than a fifteen months she predicted. Once she had sorted him out, she slipped the dress off of Elle and left the small child standing in her pink swimming costume, a purple butterfly over the right side of her stomach.

"Can we go?" Elle asked, obviously excited.

"Two seconds, sweetheart." She stood up and alternated between which arm she was holding Adam in to get her dress off.

"Wow. That's pretty." She heard Elle comment when she finally got her dress off and Elle saw her costume.

"Thanks." She smiled at the little girl who was still looking in awe at the white and green swirl patterned bikini. "Shall we get going?" She asked, scooping the things off of the floor and walking out of the room. Getting a locker and locking it securely, she walked out and went over to the side of the pool where Joseph was already waiting while blowing up water wings. She sat down at the edge, not letting Elle get in the pool yet, Adam cradled in her arms. Her tall legs reached the bottom of the pool with ease and she looked around to see mothers, fathers and their children. Her eyes stopped on the boys'. Each on patiently waiting for Joseph to finish with their water wings/jackets etc.

Kai, who was a pale brown boy with very short black hair and brown eyes, waited in his black swimming shorts, blue dinosaurs all over them. Joseph finished blowing up a ring and scooped around for a life jacket that would fit the seven year old before passing both to CJ who put them on Kai. CJ (Clark Junior as she was informed by Joseph), was older than all of the children on the holiday, he seemed to be about 13. His pale milk skin seemed almost blue from the coldness of the walk over to the pool which he had insisted on doing in only his towel and red swimming trunks. He had blonde hair that Jac could tell had gone a shade darker thanks to the shower before getting in the pool. Ethan was put into green armbands and a bright blue and green swimming vest which only made his skin even whiter. His dirty blonde hair was stuck up at the front with gel, which, with the water, was soon going to mess up. She waited an extra minute for Joseph to finish blowing up the yellow safety ring before letting him take Adam and putting the baby in the ring. When she turned back to Elle, she found her brown haired, green eyed father putting pink and purple butterfly shaped armbands on her before letting her jump into the pool and into the waiting arms of Joseph who immediately dunked her in the water. Carefully, Jac then fully got into the pool, which was a bigger fail as the size of the pool and the size of her meant her knees were barely covered with water. She had to fully sit on her bum to wet her shoulders, but once it was done she felt herself adjust to the waters temperature before standing back up and splashing Adam's shoulders so he did the same. Giving a light shiver, she realised that the baby's pool was far warmer than the adults pool, and then her mind told her why. Ew. Pushing the thought to the back of her mind she glanced around and saw the rest of the group walking towards the more deeper end of the pool. Pulling a splashing Adam behind her, she followed until she reached the opposite steps and as she got there, she saw it was a hell of a lot deeper than the shallow end as her bikini top was almost covered in water. Turning to face Adam, she watched as he attempted to splash his big brother and cousins. Her mind became so lost in watching the children all playing that she jumped (as much as you can in water) as an arm sneaked its way around her waist and she felt that nerve melting nibble on her ear.

"Nice bikini." She knew now it was Joseph. "I've never saw it before… maybe I could take a closer look at it tonight…" She pushed him away just as he winked at her.

"You wish." She pulled a tongue at him.

"But I thought with you being my fiancé would give me access to do anything…" He said seductively again. Jac felt his hand snake, but not go anywhere as it just lingered around her waist.

"Oh it does, Mr. Byrne. But what you seem to have forgotten is that caravan walls are like cardboard." She informed him, his eyebrows raising as she shook her head.

"Oh, I remembered, you best be quiet then…" He began deeply kissing her. Both pulled apart with a sudden splashing of water from Elle.

"Uncle Joe, can I go on the water slide?" Joseph's eyes looked up to a blue curly slide that looked safe so he gave a nod and took her armbands off of her before watching her going to stand behind the boys in the line.

Jac turned her attention back to the shivering Adam in front of her and watched how his bottom lip quivered.

"Hey, are you cold?" She asked stupidly. "Alright, let's get you back to the warm." Picking Adam out of the ring, she put him on one hip and stood fully up, putting the yellow ring under one arm. As Adam's torso touched her side she felt the extent of his coldness as the freezing skin made herself shiver. Her hand ran up and down his legs to try and warm them up as she stepped out of the pool. As she came to the steps of the slide where Joseph had now joined Elle, he passed her a confused look. "He's freezing." She informed him. "I'm going to warm him up and take him back to the caravan." He gave a nod.

"Do you remember where it is?" Stupid question. "Of course you do. See you soon, we're almost done here." He pecked her on the lips and watched as she carried Adam away down the slope to the changing rooms.


	2. It's Showtime!

**A/N.**** And it is in this chapter that you start to realise the similarities to Haven. :') The only place I ever go on holiday, that's why it is set there before anyone asks.**

**Thanks for the reviews, they're always appreciated. **

**Teegan - Adam's fine, he was just cold. No mention of him or that in this chapter. Thanks for the review!**

**Hannah Louise16x and Anna - Thanks for the reviews, :D**

**I also apologise for this as I have been slipping POV, one minute there isn't one, next it's as if Jac's talking. The Jac talking isn't intended so if there are any mistakes like that tell me and I'll fix them. **

**2. It's Showtime!**

The club seemed small from the outside, only two doors open to let anyone in. Both doors were accompanied by a security guard who was asking to see everyone's passes. Joining onto the doors was the 'owners exclusive' place that added at least half of the size of the club to it. Around the corner Jac could hear go carts, loud and in full swing. Music blasted from the fair even though a chilling wind came across the summer night. The sun was still out and shining as it had done that afternoon which both were grateful for as they did not exactly bring warm clothes with them. Upon nearing the club entrance, Jac felt a small hand tighten around her's and she remembered the reason why she was here; Elle. The bubbling little girl was chatting away about what the club was like and a show she had saw the previous day. Jac wore a slight look of relief on her face, the same look she had worn since she found out that it was just her, Joseph and Elle going to the show as the boys had gone Go Karting. Not that she had minded looking after Adam, but she dreaded something happening to the child while he was in her watch. At least now all her attention was on Elle… and Joseph. Her eyes drifted up to see Joseph looking at her, smiling widely at Elle's excitement.

"And then Princess Anxious and Knight Rory had a party with everyone and it was amazing!" She skipped a little faster, giving a tug on Jac and Joseph hands making them walk a bit faster.

At the entrance, Jac's ears were filled with the sound of arcade machines beeping, music playing and some coins dropping, her eyes dropped to see what Elle was doing and saw the little girls eyes light up.

"We do have another hour before the show." She informed the child who had now stopped. "And I am fairly certain Uncle Joseph can spare one of the pounds in her pocket." She gave Elle and wink and in a second the child's head snapped up to look at Joseph with those pleading eyes.

"Please, please, please." Her bottom lip stuck out and she began to beg.

"Sure." Picking Elle up in his hands, he put her to one hip before digging around in his pocket and instead of producing money like the little girl wanted, he brought out three cards, also known as passes. A nod from the security guard told the three of them that they could go in and Joseph put the passes away, this time his hand coming out with a pound inside of it.

Jac's eyes looked around as she entered the main hallway of the club. Machines filled every inch of the place. Two pence machines, ten pence machines, slots and those grabby ones with teddy bears that she never really knew the name of. Her attention turned from the multicoloured room back to the two people she was with and she realised that she was far behind the two, but with the lack of people in the arcade, she easily found where they were and caught up to them just as Joseph handed Elle a pot filled with two pence coins.

"Where to first, madam?" He teased her, and without a response the little girl skipped over to a machine and started putting in coins as if they were never ending.

Standing closely behind her, Joseph found Jac's hand and took a hold of it. He began to turn her engagement ring around on her finger, smiling up at her for finally wearing it in public. Jac gave him a small smile back, before looking back down at Elle as she dumped another coin in the machine with no result.

"Sweetie." She said to catch Elle's attention. She carefully pulled her hand away from Joseph's hold and stood at the side of the machine Elle was playing on.

"Mmm?" Elle was engrossed in putting coins in the machine.

"Come here." She said and took the coins away from her, placing the tub on the top of the glass case, "You've used nearly half of your coins and haven't gotten any back…" Her eyebrows raised. "Want me to show you how to do it properly?" Eagerly, the little girl nodded, her hair bouncing as she did so. "Right." Jac took a coin from the tub, her ring glistening in the light from over head and she smiled lightly. "You have to wait, patiently." She informed Elle, knowing patience was not one of her strong points, "Wait until just the right moment." She put the coin into the slot, still holding onto it, waiting to let go. "And as that moving tray reaches the back, you… let go!" As she let go of the coin her voice raised. Elle's eyes lit up in amazement as the coin rolled in one of the clear side pannells and reached the bottom tray just as it was moving out, falling into a clear laying down position. As the tray moved backwards, the coin was shoved into the pile on the moving board and a few of the coins dropped from the front of it, into the waiting pile, then, the board pushed them into the larger, non moving, area and, as if by magic, some coins fell that Elle immediately fished for.

"Wow." Her amazement lit up her eyes. "D'you think I can do it?" She gave a smile.

"Sure." Jac carefully picked her up to give her a better view of the top of the machine, putting a coin in Elle's hand and then one in her own she positioned it in the slot, and waited for Elle to do the same.

"Wait for the right moment…" Elle mimicked her, waiting patiently.

"Now!" Jac said and, in a delayed reaction to her own, both eventually let the coin go. Elle's did not drop in time, however, it was almost there, but Jac's did and some coins dropped which Joseph kindly picked up, giving Elle one for her own hand. "Go on, try it on your own now." She gave her a reassuring smile and watched as Elle waited and then let the coin drop, hanging on the edge of her 'seat' as she watched it go from one layer to the next, and then, finally, some dropped.

"Yes!" She said triumphantly, "I did it!"

"You did." Jac gave her a reassuring nudge. "Now why don't you go to Uncle Joseph and let him help you while I go to the toilet?" She passed her over to Joseph before giving him a peck on the lips and walking off to the toilets.

On returning, Jac found Elle and Joseph leaning against the machine they were at before, a smile came to her face as she realised that Elle must have ran out of coins.

"We ready to see the show?" She asked, moving a piece of her hair and pinning it back with her best efforts into her pony tale.

"Yeah!" Elle smiled happily, skipping off again to show them where it was.

As they walked, Jac noticed passing by one club with a sign labelling it as 'Dunes'. Next to it was a Burger King which seemed oddly placed to be quite honest. Around the corner was a few more machines and a simulator by another shop which she knew right away as a sweet shop. Entering the next area, 'Carousel', it was called, she noticed the stage where the show was obviously to take place. Finding a seat close enough to the stage so Elle could see, they sat down.

"Do you want a drink?" Joseph stood after only a second of sitting down.

"Just a water please." Jac said, finally realising how hot it was in the packed club.

"Sure, Elle?" He raised his eyebrows at her, and spoke her name when he did not get her attention. Elle had sat there staring at the stage looking intently so she did not miss a thing.

"Fanta please?" She gave a smile that only Jac could see from this angle, but still never turned to look at her Uncle.

"Alright." Joseph was soon heading to the back of the club where the bar was.

Carefully watching, a slight look of amusement on her face, Jac saw as Elle barely blinked, making sure she never missed a thing. Jac gave a roll of her eyes and a slight chuckle before running her hand up to her forehead wiping one or two beads of sweat that had appeared in the boiling place, giving a glance around (hopefully to see if Joseph was on his way back) she saw the club was now packed to the brim and the dance floor was full of children and their parents sitting waiting to watch the show. She was grateful that Joseph was not back and Elle was facing away from her as a small cramp filled her stomach, even though it was small, it was enough to make her hold her breath and move her free hand to her stomach, rubbing in circles to settle it. Yes, she knew that it would not rid her of the pain, nor was it a medical cure for stomach cramping, but it gave her some feeling of relief for her all to familiar pain. As soon as the cramp had came, it had gone again and she felt herself relax a great deal as her eyes looked around again, this time to find Joseph on his way back and she can't help but give him a grateful smile as he handed her the cup of ice cold water. At the second Jac did not even care about the freezing cold ice against her teeth and she gulps at the water as if she had not drunk in days.

"Thirsty?" He teased her, giving her a light nudge on the arm. In a slight form of embarrassment, Jac put the cup down and tried her best to laugh the comment off. "Elle, sweetheart, I got your drink." He informed her and this time Elle did turn around, obviously thirsty too. Her eyes lit up as she saw the pink lanyard on the table, the orange liquid giving it a slight tint, but not enough to stop the pink shining through. Down the side in white was 'Anxious' who Jac figured was the pink elephant on the picture at the bottom of the 'cup'.

"Thanks Uncle Joe!" She gave him a wide smile before taking the cup and trying her best to take a drink from the lanyard with her small arms. Once she was done she eagerly turned her attention back to the show, which, somehow was starting the very second she did, as if it was waiting for her.

Jac felt her brain turn to complete boredom as she was watching the show. It was some rubbish about a Super Bradley or someone. She did not really care. The show was drawing to a close, she could tell as they had began to sing a song after he had saved the day, and she was grateful for the ending. As she looked to Joseph she felt her stomach flip and do a somersault as nausea over whelmed her body. Ignoring the part of her brain (the doctor part of it), she stayed in her seat, not quite positive that she was going to vomit. Instead, she wiped her forehead again and picked up the glass where the ice had now melted. Pressing it to her lips she took a small mouthful and swirled it around her mouth as discreetly as she could to rid herself of the foul bile taste. Then she felt trapped, not sure what to do. Jac knew she could not spit the water back into the cup, not only was that disgusting, but it would raise suspicion from Joseph so she swallowed it with her best force and took a couple more gulps to rid herself of the nasty burning in her throat. As the glass met the table, missing the previous watering by an inch or so, she felt as the nausea disappeared. That was really weird so her eyebrows creased, but she put a smile on as the show drew to a close and Elle happily turned back to face them.

"That was great!" She bubbled happily.

"It sure was." Joseph said with a slight doubt in his voice, and Jac could tell it was forced which made her laugh slightly.

"C'mon, it's time to go." Jac informed them both and Joseph picked Elle's drink off of the table before taking her hand and leading them out to the arcade.

"Hey, why don't you take Elle back to the caravan? I'll be there in a minute, I'm just getting 'dinner'." His eyes flicked over towards the Burger King sign and Jac could not help but smile.

"Fine then!" She gave him a kiss before taking the drink off of him and getting Elle's hand. "C'mon sweetie." She said leading her away.

As Joseph entered the caravan, he found it empty, void of noises. His eyebrows creased in confusion wondering where the hell Jac and Elle were. Then he heard some voices down the end of the caravan and immediately knew where the were. Dumping the food on the table, he walked down and knocked on Elle's bedroom door before opening it.

"Food's here, but apparently people aren't…" He gave Jac a confused look,

"Oh, apparently we're babysitting for the night while they do whatever." Jac gave a shrug.

"Alright then!" Joseph laughed slightly, "I'll go and plate up, see you in a sec." He smiled before closing the door and going back into the kitchen.

He fished around in the cupboards for a second before producing three plates, some cutlery (not like they were going to use it) and two cups before setting the plates up on the table and putting the food out on it. Right on time, Jac and Elle left the room and came over to the table to start eating.

The time passed quite quickly over dinner and soon Jac was in the bedroom trying to brush Elle's newly washed hair and put it into braids. The little girl wore a pink top with Disney Princess' on it, her name neatly in the right hand corner in swirly writing, and purple bottoms. It took Jac a while, but once Elle's hair had dried enough, she braided it before letting the little girl pick a DVD from her suitcase. Biting her lip, she was already regretting giving her a choice as she watched the suitcase open and saw all of the Tinkerbell and Princess movies inside of it. God she hated watching those. To her surprise, Elle picked out a Bratz movie, which, in Jac's opinion was no better than a Tinkerbell or Princess one, but at least it was a little bit more bearable.

"Genie Magic?" Elle asked, a smile on her face.

"Whatever you want, sweetie." Jac ran a hand over Elle's braids.

"Genie Magic is my favourite." She said, in her slight broken English.

"Alright then." Jac gave her a kiss on the side of the head before taking the DVD and letting her pick up the scruffy old teddy bear and dummy off of the bed. When they got into the kitchen, she saw that Joseph had set everything up ready, making a small bed on the couch for Elle just in case she fell asleep, after all it was gone eight o'clock and by the time the film finished it would be around half nine. Carefully Joseph swooped Elle up and laid her under the blanket, making sure she was holding her bear before putting the film on and sitting on the couch himself. Jac, who had just made Elle a bottle of warm milk, walked into the living room at last and handed Elle the warm container before sitting curling up next to Joseph.

"Be careful, it's hot." She warned Elle as she watched the child try and press it to her lips. After Jac's warning, Elle took the bottle away and cupped it in her hands before shaking her head and saying in a sing-song tone:

"Not to hot, not to cold, it's just right." Jac gave a small laugh and watched as she began to drink, holding the bottle with one hand and rubbing her teddy bears head with the other.

Everything in the movie began to blur after half an hour as she felt herself sink to sleep in Joseph's arms. She felt his hold on her change to a more protective hold of her and he subconsciously rocked her. It was another hour or so before he woke her back up, shaking her shoulder gently.

"Jac, wake up." He said in a hushed voice, that she knew was because Elle was also asleep and she carefully opened her eyes to look into his. "I think it is time both of you went to bed." He informed her and waited for Jac to lean off of him before standing up and picking Elle in his arms, making sure she had her teddy and dummy before carefully placing her in her own bed.

While he was doing so, Jac sleepily walked around the caravan, tidying things up.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Joseph leaned in the doorway, smiling at her. "Come on, bed for you to." He smirked and waited for Jac to finish folding the blanket and putting it on the end of the couch before physically moving her out of the room. He locked the door on the way and turned the lights off. "They'll have keys." He informed her before taking her into their bedroom. He left the hall light on, and part of Elle's door so she could see just in case she woke up, and then left part of their door ajar so they could hear her if she did. Carefully he striped down to his boxers, and climbed into one of the beds before watching Jac get changed into a pair of pyjamas that he could not tell what they looked like in the darkness. Then he saw as she went to get into the bed next to him (the caravan rooms only having single beds).

"Where do you think you are going?" He smirked and pulled her into his bed, trying his best to flip her over to the wall side, making sure she could not fall out. He then moulded to her body shape, holding her close so that he also fitted on the bed. Placing a soft kiss on her cheek and moving some of her hair out of her face, Joseph began that gently rocking he subconsciously did not know he was doing and he soon felt her falling back into that deep sleep.


	3. The Hunt

**A.N.** Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate every single one of them. Thanks for the Alerts/Subscriptions and Fave's also.

I know this story might sound a little bit unfinished, because it kind of is. The end of The Hunt will be in the very last chapter as there is a day between each Tiger Club and they still have a whole night for more things!

Please review.

**Chapter 3 - The Hunt**

The next morning, Joseph was woken up with a light nudge in his side and then the repeating of his name."Uncle Joe..." He heard for the sixth time.

Giving a light groan, his eyes opened and immediately he knew it was early morning from the lack of light coming through the window. Another moment passed in which he waited for Elle to say something else but the child never did, and it was obvious that she was waiting for Joseph to turn around and face her. He bit his lip, not wanting to send her away, but not wanting to wake Jac up. Then be sighed; there was no way he was getting to turn around without waking Jac, especially the way they were lying. He took in the look of her sleeping form before unwrapping his arms from her waist and sitting up.

"What's up, Sweetie?" He rubbed some sleep from his eyes.

"It's time to get up!" She smiled happily, "We've got to get ready and then we can go to Tiger Club!" the thought of the club was already torturing Joseph. Then he felt a pang of guilt, wishing he had sent Elle away as Jac began to move and groan."Morning Aunt Jac!" Elle chirped and Joseph knew Jac wasn't one for being woken at about five thirty am and to prove the point she glared at him and then threw the blankets over her face with something rude being mumbled.

"Aunt Jac's not really a morning person sweetheart." He rubbed away at Elle's now messy braids.

"Oh..." Elle's little eyes dropped to the floor as she shifted uncomfortably.

"So, Tiger Club?" He broke the silence and Elle's face lit up as she rambled on about the dances, challenges and 'special visitors'. "It sounds great!" he gave Elle a false smile before standing up. "Why don't we go and find some breakfast and then start to get ready?" He received an eager nod from Elle. "Alright. Why don't you go out and get ready? I'll see you in a second." Placing a soft kiss on Elle's head he watched her leave before turning back to the lump in the bed. Peeling back the blanket to reveal a mess of ginger hair.

Tentatively his fingers moved some hair out of her face and he gently gave her a kiss. "I'll keep her entertained for the while, you go back to sleep. When we get back from this Tiger Club I'll wake you an we will think of something to do then."

Jac shook her head."Wake me up when you are done in the shower and I'll get ready and come the club with you." She gave him a small smile and felt as his thumb rubbed over her forehead. Both of his eyebrows creased in worry as he felt her clammy forehead.

"Are you sure, you don't seem to feel great and to be honest, you don't look it either." She watched his eyes fill with worry.

"I'm fine, just a little warm from the heater and the blanket." She admitted, giving him half of the truth.

"Alright then..." He did not seem too believe her but let it lie anyway. Giving her another kiss before leaving to find out what on earth Elle was up to.

Jac was happy for him to have left as her stomach did another repeat of yesterday, she was certain now that she was sick, there was no doubt about it. But there was no way she was telling Joseph, especially not while they were on holiday, she was not going to let anything ruin it now. So instead, she opted for trying to use her best medical knowledge to check if she was fine. She waited a moment to see if anyone was coming in, and then, when she was sure she was safe she lay herself flat on the bed, taking the blanket off of herself she tried her best to check her pulse rate, nothing to abnormal there.

Then she felt her forehead, slightly cold which was to be expected with the dampness of her head, but her cheeks were a normal temperature, she guessed, and moved on. Then she gave her best effort of checking her abdomen, lifting her top slightly to see no swelling or bruising. Her hands pressed into different areas, no pain, nothing, everything seemed fine. There was a slight pressure in her lower right abdomen, but again there was no pain, so she guessed she was fine but still made a mental note to get it checked when she returned.

She then pushed it all aside, the nausea, occasional dizziness and cramping to focus on her current exhaustion. Her eyes dropped before she had a chance to even cover herself over, she had fallen asleep.

Joe came in around twenty minutes later and frowned seeing her lying awkwardly with no blanket on her. To him it seemed like she had passed out, but he knew better. So he carefully tucked the blanket around her and smoothed some hair out of her face. She really did not look to well to him, but Joseph knew better than to nag her about it, so, instead he went back to the task he had came back to do and began putting yesterdays jeans and shirt back on before waking the peaceful ginger.

The club was empty, no one was there.

Inside 'Tiger Club' were ten children, and, of course, their exhausted mums and dads.

Joseph gave Jac yet another look of concern. "What?" She said defensively.

"Nothing." Joseph looked to the table, his fascination going to the glass of water on the table.

"Its obviously not nothing, you're looking at me as if I'm going to break." She gave a roll of her eyes.

"You're sick." He informed her as if she had not noticed herself.

"I'm fine." She told him and Joseph's hand took her's before he sighed.

"Whatever you say, I will stop hassling you as soon as you agree to tell me if or when it gets worse."

Jac did not want to nod, it was like admitting to him that she was ill, but she knew he could see through her lies anyway so she gave in and nodded. "Alright, now can we please get on with the holiday?" She gave him a smile and felt him squeeze her hand tighter in a reassuring way. She looked back over to the centre of the room where all the children and some adults were, they were all colouring in some seemed to pass quickly from then on and she looked up at the clock on the wall. It seemed only an hour had passed.

"Come dance!" Elle bounced over to them both and tried with her best effort to pull them both. Joseph soon stopped her.

"Sweetie..." He saw those eyes and fell into the trap, "Fine. I'll dance, but Auntie Jac isn't too well so she will stay here. Alright?" Jac does not know why he asked, after all, it was not like either of them had a say in the matter. He was soon on the dance floor looking like an idiot. At least it brought a smile to Jac's face.

"Alright, everyone, we have a special challenge from Rory himself!" one of the funstars on stage announced once the dancing was finished.

Then, as everyone looked to the stage a video came on. "Alright guys, time for your challenge!" The cartoon tiger announced, "Merlin has turned himself invisible!" There was a pause, "and the only way to help him, boys and girls, is if you can gather everything off of our magic list to turn him back and have him save Princess Anxious' birthday party!" Jac groaned, wishing she would not have to run around to do this stupid challenge with Elle. Maybe she did not like doing it? Then a list was handed out around the kids. "The child who can successfully bring all of their items to Tiger Club tomorrow morning will win either a Princess Anxious or Knight Rory teddy! I'm counting on you!" The tiger gave a wink and the screens went black before Elle bounced back to the table the list almost getting crunched up in her hand at her excitement.

"This is going to be so much fun, I can get stuff from the beach and and…" She smiled widely.

"Calm down, sweetie." Joseph put a hand on her shoulder to settle the rambling child.

"So I guess we're going to hunt for some things?" Jac gave Elle a smile as she nodded with excitement. "Alright." Checking the time and finding it only to be half past ten she decided that they would have enough time to get an item or two. "I say we go over to the beach now, before everyone comes out and before the tide comes in." Elle happily giggled and smiled. "C'mon then."

Elle lead the way to the beach with Joseph and Jac keeping a close eye on her, as they left the main building and were turning the corner by the Go Karts a pain shocked her lower right abdomen. She did not groan or move her hand to the spot, instead she bit her lip softly and tried to keep her breath from hitching. Once they had passed the Go Karts and was on the sandy beach path the pain disappeared and she felt a relief wash over her as she was fully able to focus in the task at hand. Looking down into her left hand, she found the crumpled piece of paper and opened it fully before reading the items off aloud:

"Anything with Anxious on, Shell, Sunglasses, Feather, Ten two pence's won from the arcade, Toothbrush, Picture of your name in the beach and a pin badge." All seemed within reason.

"Sounds like a busy list…" Joseph raised his eyebrows at her.

"Yeah, but I'm sure we can find all of that. Anxious, Pin badge, toothbrush all from the shop, I have a pair of sunglasses she can take, we'll just give her some two pence's, I mean, it's not like they are following her around to see if she won them." Joseph gave her a disbelieving look.

"C'mon, let her hand her fun, I'll get her a pounds worth, it'll all be fine." Joseph gave a small laugh, "What else?"

"Feather, picture of name written on the beach and shell either beach or a pillow if push comes to shove." Joseph wrapped his arm around Jac and gave her a light hug.

"You are amazing sometimes…" He gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I found one!" Both looked up to see Elle waving a shell in their direction.

"Ah, cool. Let me take it, you see what else you can find. Keep your eye out for a feather!" He took the shell and looked slightly disappointed when he saw it was full of wet sand; where the hell was he going to put it? If he put it in his pocket the sand would fill it to the brim. A groan escaped his mouth. "Remind me to get a bucket next time." Jac laughed and looked at him seductively.

"Oh, there's going to be a next time is there?" She gave him a wink before catching up with Elle who was studying something from a distance. "What have you found?" Jac broke away from Joseph to speedily walk over to Elle and as she reached the little girl she felt herself put her arms around her and move her away in a protective manner. "Joseph…" She bit her lip with a slight bit of worry, that made Joseph walk faster.

"Yeah?" When he came to look at what Elle had found, he too, found himself carefully stepping around it. "Okay then, jelly fish, bad…" He shook his head at the sight of the pink blob on the sand. "Stay closer to us, alright, Elle?" Immediately the little girl nodded, as if in fear of what lay on the beach. "Alright then, I'll find a clear patch where you can write your name and while you do that with Jac, I'll try my best to find a feather so we don't have to stay here long, alright?" Another nod. Walking in a protective line, Joseph tried his best to avoid anything harmful to Elle and eventually came to a spot where she could write her name. "Here." He told them, "I'll be back in ten." A kiss fell on Elle's head then one on Jac's lips before he left.

A lingering smile stayed on Jac's face for a few minutes, slightly disbelieving Joseph's reaction to the jelly fish, it was not like they were actually going to die. She gave a shake of her head.

"Done!" Elle chirped from next to her and Jac looked down to read Elle written in the sand.

"Good girl. Now, do you want to take the picture or should I?" Elle's eyes lit up at the thought of taking the picture. "Figured." Digging around in her pocket before fishing her phone out, she pressed all of the buttons until the camera came on. "Be careful of the sand." Elle gave a nod. "Alright, this button, will take the picture." She showed Elle and received a nod before giving her the phone. Carefully she watched as Elle took the picture, then another and another. Her body swayed slightly and she blinked to clear her vision. "Elle, sweetie, I'm going to go sit on the dune over there, you can play here, but be careful, alright?" She never waited for the nod she knew was going to come as she carefully walked over to the dry dune and settled herself down carefully. Her head buried in her hands as she tried to rub the dizziness away. She felt some sand sink beside her and someone pull her to rest on her shoulder. It smelled like Joseph, but to confirm that she opened her eyes to meet his.

"I think we should take you home…" Joseph's hand connected with her forehead.

"No, I'm fine, I swear. I think it's just a cold…" She informed him.

"You think?" Both of his eyebrows raised.

"Dizziness, tiredness, nausea." She gave him a reassuring kiss. "Just a cold."

"Fine." Joseph gave in. He raised his hand and waved a feather at Jac.

"So you found one?" Jac gave a laugh.

"Sure did, but I am not giving the feather to her, not at the minute. God, all the germs that might be on this." A frown went on his lips as he looked disgusted at the feather.

"Here, let me take it." Reaching out, Jac leaned to take the feather.

"No, you're already sick, the stuff on this can make you worse." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"I don't care. Besides, if I get any worse my fiancé is a doctor and he will make me better." Leaning in they kissed and Jac took the feather from his hand, putting it as carefully as she could in her pocket. A second after they pulled apart she watched as Joseph almost immediately wiped frantically with his hands on his jeans.

"I did it!" Elle bounced back over, Jac's phone clutched in her hand.

"Ah, great, now we can go back to the caravan." Jac began to stand up and she could feel Joseph's eyes on her but chose to ignore it.

The walk back to the caravan seemed to be a long one, and Jac could feel Joseph's eyes watching her every move, making sure she was not going to break. She hated that, him thinking she was weak, vulnerable. After they had eaten some lunch, Joseph had taken both of them round to the back of the site, where the shops and fair ground were. Stopping, Joseph lead them both into an almost empty building which had a few arcade machines inside of it along with a bowling alley and some pool tables.

"Here, Elle, remember, keep some that you have won for the challenge." He handed the little girl some pennys from out of his pocket and in a second the little girl had bounced off.

"I don't see why we couldn't have just given her some two pences out of your pocket, it's not like they would have known." Jac rolled her eyes and Joseph turned around to see her leaning against the door frame, one leg propped up on the painted wood, her arms crossed over her chest. For a moment, she looked like she was perfectly fine. He knew, however, it was just a mask.

"Ah, but, that would take the fun out of it." Leaning next to her, he gave her a wide smile, and followed her gaze to where Elle was once again resorting to her tactic of shoving coins in the machine. Holding back a laugh, he looked back at his red haired fiancé. "Best stop her before she loses all of those coins." Jac's eyes followed as Joseph went and stood next to the blonde child, showing her, once again, how to use the machine properly and effectively, she noticed how he pocketed a few coins that Elle had won so the child did not spend them.

"I did it!" Elle bounced over only a few seconds or so later, and Jac gave her a big smile.

"Great, shall we go and see what else is on that list?" An eager nod came as a response.

The shop was the opposite of the arcade, full to the brim of women in pyjamas, screaming children, stressed fathers and mischievous teenagers. _That's more like it._ Thought Jac as she watched Elle and Joseph bounce away to find a toothbrush.

"Ohh! Pink, can we get this one!" Elle happily waved a toothbrush in Joseph's direction and Jac laughed.

"Pick whatever one you want, hunny. It's not like you're using it to brush your teeth now." To Elle, that sat as a 'yes' so she dropped the brush in the basket in Joseph's hand before looking to Jac for what else she needed.

"Hmm, lets see." She flipped open the piece of paper. "Sunglasses, pin badge and something with anxious on it."

Carefully, Elle eyed every stand in the shop before she found some bright pink framed sunglasses.

"Those!" She quickly snatched them off of the stand and put them in the basket.

"Okay." Joseph gave her a pat on the head. "Pin badges are over there on that stand." They walked through the crowed of people towards the stand, dodging every person and pram in their way until they got there.

"Hmm…" Elle looked to be in a state of full on debating. "I like that one!" She pointed at one on the top of the stand, one with all of the Haven characters on it, carefully labelled 2010.

"Alright, now we just need something with Anxious on." Jac said as her and Elle wondered off into the toy section while Joseph battled with the basket (which was practically empty) and the badge stand.

Walking through the toy area, Jac bit her tongue, hoping that Elle did not want to use one of the large, expensive toys for something with Anxious's face. Keeping up the pace the little girl was setting, she looked relieved when Elle held up a colouring set with Anxious pictures and stickers.

"This!" She waved the item at Jac. "I can just take the stickers to them."

"Sounds like a plan, Angel." Jac took the colouring pack from Elle and took her hand, leading her to Joseph who had only just freed himself from the badge stand. "All done here." She informed him, dropping the set into the basket and returning Joseph's smile.

"Great. Let's go and pay."


	4. Fun And Games

**A.N.** I apologise for the shortness of this chapter, and the amount of time it has taken me to update. See, I, along with many Joseph fans, have been suffering from Joseph Byrne withdrawal. But Jac's there, so I shall keep on with writing as long as I have my trusty muse.

Reviews welcome, I am running out of ideas so always remember anything you want to see is welcome to be put forward. I will try my best to include it. Suggestions are welcome for this story and the rest in the series.

**Chapter 4: Fun And Games.**

The sun was high in the sky, shinning brightly down on Jac Naylor. Giving a soft sigh, the red head knew it was only an illusion as the wind blew strongly, brushing her strands on loose hair in the opposite direction as to which she intended it to be. She battled to keep it from blowing astray, and eventually tamed it but giving in and finally tying a loose bobble around it. Clouds in the sky that seemed to be a distance away were hanging thick with a heavy grey lining matching the insides of the cloud's colour. Jac was not falling for the current sun's tricks and mentally bet herself that by dinner time this evening they would have rain on their hands and pretty bad rain by the looks of it. Despite all of what her brain was telling her, she carried on walking. Following the man she loved and the small blonde child up a grassy path that lead to the 'fun fair.' It did not matter what the weather was like, or even the steady nausea in her stomach, as long as they were both enjoying themselves.

"What are you thinking about?" She gave a genuine smile as Joseph's words, and a soft kiss, pulled her from her reverie.

"Just thinking of all of the fun you're going to have on all of those rides." Jac refrained from calling it a fun fair as there was not nearly enough rides as the amount at a fun fair. Yes, there was Waltz', Go-Karts, Tea Cups, and some flying bee things that Jac really did not understand. But that was all. The rest of the space was filled by an inflatable slide, that seemed to scare her more than any of the other attractions, and a sports section which was more of an extravagant fence.

"Me going on them?" He asked, one eye brow raised and a playful smirk playing on his face. "If I have to go on them, you have to as well." He informed her. His smile changed to a wide, Cheshire Cat grin as he turned around, shifting his attention to the blonde little girl in front of them. "Don't you think Aunt Jac should come on the rides with us?" The grin was soon lost as Elle gave a shake of her head, along with a 'don't be stupid' look.

"You know Aunt Jac doesn't like the fair." She said matter-of-factly.

As Joseph turned to Jac, a look of shock and horror on his face, he caught her amused smirk as she gave a shrug.

"Told you." She gave him a nudge in the side and a slight laugh.

Rolling his eyes and giving a sigh, he returned back to his normal way of walking, quietly plotting a way to make Jac pay for it later.

His heart almost stopped as thy waited in the cue for the Go-Karts. Watching intently, he saw the current group of people racing around the track. He nervously chewed at his lower lip as one car raced around the corner, scraping against the metal sides of the track. If that already had not put him on edge, what happened next surely threw him off. The red and yellow cars were gaining some speed, coming around the corner where the blue car was scrapping. The bang was unmistakable as the three cars crashed one after the other into each other.

"That looks like it will cause whiplash." He mumbled to himself, biting even more anxiously on his bottom lip; knowing he had to get Elle back in one piece. "Maybe we should let you play on the small Go-karts." His hand pointed towards a simple oval track with four motorcycle like cars.

"Nope. The sign says I'm tall 'nough." This time she pointed to the sign that had just said only a few minutes prior that she was just tall enough to ride along with an adult.

Joseph gave a groan, knowing there was no way out of this, all he can try to do is not crash. That either meant staying in the lead (not very likely) or coming in last.

The game drew to a close, and Joseph waited for the last set of people to leave before walking in. Unfortunately for him, the double car was right at the front of all the other cars. Carefully hr picked Elle up and put her in the passenger seat. Buckling her in and checking, double checking and triple checking, she was securely in before getting in his own side. Clutching at the wheel, he got himself ready on the pedals, fully aware that going last would probably not be an option as it would cause a crash. This was going to be tough to say in front, especially with the four teenage boys and one teenage girl in the single karts behind him were not going to give him any mercy.

Jac gave a light laugh from where she leaned against the wooden fencing around the track. She watched as a man waved the checker flag and they all raced away. Watching intently, she saw the thrill in Elle's face, mixed with a look of fear. Joseph did not look too happy either. They sped ahead at first but eventually fell into third place as he slowed down to turn the corner to assure less damage. She gave a shake of her head, but kept the smile on her face, as she carried on watching the two.

Her eyes intently analysed as a shaky Elle was pulled into Joseph's arms and carried out of the track. Worry filled her mind as she walked the distance to meet them both at the exit gate.

"Elle, are you okay, Sweetie?" What the little girl said surprised her.

"It was awesome!" She gave Jac a big smile. "Can we do it again?" She pleaded. Looking to meet Joseph's eyes and immediately knew he was going to give in, so she cut in.

"Not right now, Sweetie. Maybe tomorrow, yeah?" Elle replied with a sad nod.

"But look at the big slide, I'm sure you can go on that now." The blonde gave an eager nod. "Alright then, come on." Jac followed as Joseph put her on the floor, and struggled to keep up with the little girls pace as she raced towards the massive slide.

She watched as Joseph handed the 'tokens' over to the woman in charge of the slide, and he carefully slipped Elle's Wellington boots off of her feet. Letting her keep her tights on. It was only a short second before Elle raced away up the steps leading to the top of the slide. Lowering herself down onto a bench in front of the slide, she smiled as Joseph left Elle and joined her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, remembering her funny turn from earlier.

"I'm fine now. I think it was just something in the air." Joseph gave a nod, not really understanding how air can make you sick, but went along with it anyway.

"Okay, as long as you're alright." He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. Both pulled apart as Elle shouted:

"Look at me, I'm super Elle!" They turned to see her at the top of the slide, making a Superman stance. Both gave a small laugh as she jumped, sliding down the slide while trying to keep up her Superman arms.

"What're we doing next?" Jac asked, her eyes not leaving the small blonde girl who was running back up the stairs.

"She mentioned going on that bee thing." He gave a grumble. "Then we will probably head back to the caravan." She gave a nod, finally tearing her eyes away to glance up at the sky.

"Good; It looks like it is going to rain soon." It was Joseph's turn to give her a nod.

The bee's had not been the last ride Elle dragged Joseph on, unfortunately for him. Now both were being whirled around in the small tea cups. The look of horror on Elle's face was unmistakeable. At first she was just pulling a face, then began shaking her head."Stop." She pleaded, tears freely falling from her eyes. "Stop it." Jac ordered shortly after the girl. Luckily they had been the only ones on the ride, so the man running the machine pressed the stop button and the ride came to a holt. Jac raced around to where Elle's teacup was and scooped her into her arms as Joseph had a little trouble getting out of his tea cup. She gently wiped away the tears on Elle's cheeks. "Sshh. It's okay." She took a seat on the nearest bench and began softly rocking Elle to calm her down, holding the small child close until she settled down and the tears stopped flowing. "Better?" She asked, as the tears subsided."Mmm hmm." Elle gave a meek nod."Alright. Shall we get back to the caravan?" Joseph finally asked, once he was free from the ride and had collected Elle's dropped Teddy-Bear and dummy. Scoping her out of Jac's arms and into his own, he let Elle settle comfortably against his shoulder, before she finally turned to look at him, fear still slightly in her eyes. "So what's the show about tonight?" He asked tactfully, trying to tear her mind away from the ride. Apparently it worked."It's Super Bradley!" She announced. Giving him a big smile, looking like she was back to the normal happy Elle."Super Bradley, really? Wow." He answered as all three of them began the walk back to the caravan.


	5. The Long Goodbyes

**Well, I am really, really, sorry for the wait I gave you guys before posting this chapter. But alas, we have came to the final chapter of this story. **

**Sorry for any typo's I may have made!**

**I am also really sorry that I have had another delay before posting the next instalment of this series; due to it being April, and Script Frenzy is starting, I have decided to do another NaNoWriMo. So, that update will not be until mid May.**

**Thank you to everyone that has read, reviewed and added this story to their favourites!**

**Chapter 5: The Long Goodbyes**

As the next day dawned upon the caravan site, it seemed that Jac had truly been right as rain lashed against the side of the caravan using it like some sort of drum. Her eyes began to flutter open as she heard the patter of noise that she had become accustomed to since three yesterday afternoon, and she felt herself mentally calling herself stupid for wanting to check to see if the caravan had floated away with all of the rain water there was bound to be.

Glancing up at the nasty caravan curtains, she could see a faint glimmer of light shining though the windows and she automatically knew it was well past eight in the morning. Then she began to panic; knowing they needed to get Elle to tiger club for nine. As she sat up, it dawned on her that Joseph was missing from the bed, and she gave a small sigh, knowing he had left her to rest. Her finger reached over and pressed a button on her mobile phone to reveal the time was already ten. She definitely needed the sleep they had left her with. Letting a curse escape from her mouth she let herself look around the room and look around to see if there was anything in there to indicate where her fiancé had gone, and her eyes soon fell on it. A crumpled piece of paper laying on Joseph's pillow:

_Jac, I thought after your funny turn yesterday, you could use some rest before the drive back to night. I've taken Elle to the club and then back to the go-karts like we promised. Everyone else is with us too, so the key is on top of the fireplace. _

_I'll be back for lunch. _

_Joseph x _

A small smile played on her lips as she realised just how sweet he was and how lucky she was to have him. Then that smile was lost only a moment later as she felt a bubbly acid sensation rise up her stomach. Jac made a mad dash for the toilet, which was made even more difficult by the small caravan doors and passage ways, knocking into a wall or two along the way before stopping at the nasty porcelain bowl. Dropping onto her knees, she let her stomach empty out the entirety of yesterdays dinner.

As she finally finished throwing up all of her food, Jac let her head rest upon the cold wall, which, if she were not sick, she would have told herself was far too unclean to do. But now she did not care, grateful for the coldness the tiles were offering. Her shaky hand reached up onto the sink as she pulled herself to her feet and began the shaky walk back to their bedroom; knowing she needed to be ready before they returned.

.

She gave herself a small satisfied smile as she looked into the bathroom mirror. Seeing she was looking a lot better thanks to her bag of make-up, and her stomach had settled down some what. Her hands smoothed over the white top she wore as she tucked it back into her black pants before buttoning them up.

Her eyes made a play for the kitchen cupboards as she considered eating something to help her fill her now empty stomach, but she decided against it and she settled on a cup of cold water to calm the foul taste still lingering in her mouth. Carefully carrying the full cup over to the small coffee table, she let herself sit down and relax once again, already feeling drained from her bout of sickness this morning. Letting her eyes drop onto the window, she watched as the rain patted down the glass, making small trails as it fell to the bottom of the pane. Her eyes watched each drop carefully as she felt a small vibration in her pants pocket. Pulling the black phone out, she saw that she had one new text message and found it was from Joseph. A bigger smile came to her face as she read it:

_Bloody drenched, we'll be back in a min. Don't leave the caravan. _

Not a bloody chance, she told herself as she looked back out to the rain drops and the grey clouds. Yes, it seemed they were in for a dreadful thunder storm. She blew a deep breath out from her lips as she prayed they would not get caught in it on the drive home tonight.

Her attention was snatched away from the rain drops as she heard a small calamity of people climbing the steps to the caravan, and she let a smile grow as she saw a soaked Joseph enter, Elle behind him in a rain coat and Wellington boots. The small girl soon shed herself of the outside wear letting the drops of water wet up the caravan floor.

"Go for a swim?" She asked, a joking look upon her face as she saw Joseph turn to her with an not amused look that soon turned to one of amusement.

"It's raining far too bad out there." He informed her.

"I can tell." Jac watched as Elle began to bounce about the place, her wet plaits soon soaking up the back of her once dry top. "Elle, go and get a towel and your hairbrush." The young girl nodded as she raced away down the end of the caravan. "I thought you said everyone was with you?" Jac asked, remembering the small letter left on her pillow.

"They were, but the second it began to rain heavier, they all decided against it and ran back to the kids' caravan. Elle, of course, still wanted to ride the go-karts, so we got soaked. We're only here to get changed they we're off to Gem's caravan for lunch." Jac gave a small nod. "Are you feeling better today?" He asked, remembering her funny turn from yesterday.

"I am fine. Although, I could have done with a little less sleep." She teased him.

"Yeah, let's see if you're saying that tomorrow night when we're on the late shift." She gave a small groan.

"I forgot about that." She told him.

"I thought you had." He watched as her eyes trailed back out of the window. "The rain should have let off by the time we leave anyway, so don't worry." He gave her a small reassuring smile, knowing she was far from comfortable with driving in the rain. Jac turned back to him and gave him a smile and a small nod that he knew as a 'thanks', before her attention was ripped away by Elle bouncing back into the room. "I'm going to get changed then I'll wipe this up." He motioned to the wet patches all over the floor.

"Alright." Watching carefully, Jac saw him disappear down into the end of the caravan and into their small bedroom, before she looked back to Elle who was waving her hair brush at her. "Let's get you dried off, yeah?" She gave a small smile as Elle nodded and carefully pulled a stool over for her to sit on in front of Jac. Waiting a moment, Jac helped Elle sit on the stool, before taking the towel from the little girls lap and beginning to dry of her plaits.

"How on earth did you get so wet when you had a rain coat and wellie's?" She asked, a slight raise of her eye brows.

"I forgot to bring my umbrella." Elle informed her.

"I guessed as much." Jac gave a small laugh and began to take the bobbles and plaits out of the young girl's hair. "Do you want the TV?" She asked, and waited as Elle gave it some thought before nodding. "Here." Turning the TV on, she flicked though the channel before stopping on Cbeebies. "Is this okay?" Another small nod came as the little girl became lost in the dancing hippo's on the screen.

Giving a small smile, Jac carried on undoing her hair before giving it a proper dry off with the towel and brushing it back into two braids.

"There, all done. Do you want to go into your room and pick a new top for you to wear? This one's a little bit wet." She explained. Elle gave an eager nod and let Jac help her off the stool before going backwards into her room, letting Jac follow her. "You'll need a dry vest as well." Elle gave another nod as she began rooting through the draws on her wardrobe. Looking for any form of top that currently matched her black leggings.

"Perfect." She said, turning to the older woman she handed Jac the two items and held her arms up to be changed.

"Alright. There." Jac said, after drying and changing Elle, she watched as she bounced back into the main section of the caravan and started to re-watch the show.

Her eyes looked around upon hearing a soft grunt from her's and Joseph's bedroom, and she looked around to see the door partly opened. Casting one glance back to the blonde child, she made sure she was okay before opening back the door and giving a soft laugh at what she saw in front of her.

"You okay there?" She laughed.

"It's so not funny, Jac. Every time I take one thing off, another gets stuck." He complained.

"That's because Welsh rain is magic." She teased him, and Joseph gave her an not amused glare.

"Fine. Let me help." Rolling her eyes she stepped forward and helped him to remove his top.

.

Throwing her final thing back into the small suitcase, Jac looked around one last time to make sure she had not forgotten a single thing. Satisfied that nothing was missing from her bag, she began to zip it up, with a slight bit of difficulty.

"Need some help there?" Joseph placed his arms around her waist and softly kissed the inside of her neck.

"I'd say yes, but last time one of us tried to help one another, we ended up doing things we should not do." Her eye brows raised as she turned to meet his eyes. Looking behind him she saw the door wide open, and Elle was sat eating a bit of dinner that she had been given from her mother.

"You know you enjoyed it." He teased.

"Of course I did. But I would have enjoyed it a hell of a lot more if there was not the fear of getting caught by your four year old goddaughter." She softly let him kiss her, before pushing him away. "I'm serious."

"I know you are, and that's what I love about you." He gave her another small kiss before letting himself pull away from her all together. Reaching around her, he zipped up the suitcase with ease. "There you are." A hint of amusement lingered in his voice.

"Thanks." Jac gave him a small smile.

"No problem. Best get back to Elle." Joseph watched as her gaze shifted back to the child.

"How's she holding up?" She asked, knowing that when they left in an hours time, things were going to get emotional.

"Fine, at the moment, I think she's trying not to remember it. Plus she is distracted by that stupid elephant." Joseph gave a small smile.

"I can't believe you actually brought her it." Jac shook her head, letting herself sit down on the end of the bed that was not taken by the suitcase.

"We went though all that trouble to get her those items, and got her hopes up. I was not letting her get upset. Besides, it was only fifteen pounds." Jac rolled her eyes.

"She seems to love it anyway." Joseph gave a nod.

"Of course she does!" Jac gave him a small smile before standing back up to pick up her suitcase. She gave a tug of the handle to get it off of the bed, letting it crash upon the floor.

"Here. You go and sit with Elle for a while, I'll get this in the car." He took the bag from out of her hands and let her walk ahead and sit at the table next to the little girl before lugging the suitcase past them both and down the stairs of the caravan out to the car.

Jac did not miss how Elle's watery blue eyes watched Joseph pull the suitcase out of the caravan.

"You really are leaving?" She asked, tears now welling in her eyes and one sliding down her cheek. Jac gave a small nod.

"But it's okay, because you're going to have an amazing end of the week, and you will see us soon. Remember, Uncle Joseph promised you a cinema trip." Watching carefully, she saw as Elle gave a nod, and picked at the corner of her food with her fork. "Come here." Jac opened her arms slightly and let Elle climb into her lap. Cradling her softly, she let her sob quietly before thinking of a way to distract her. "So, what are you going to do tomorrow then?" She asked, brushing some of her loose hair out of her face, and wiping away her tears in the process.

"We... We're going swimming." Elle informed her, sobbing softly still.

"Wow. You're a great swimmer. I'm sure you'll have fun, 'specially on the slide." Elle gave a small nod and Jac noticed the way her tears had begun to taper off. "What else are you going to do?"

"Mum said she would take me to the beach to make sand castles, as long as I don't touch the jelly fish, and if the rain stops." Elle gave a small smile.

"Cool, I bet you are going to make the most amazing sand castle ever!" The little girl gave her an eager nod. "Tell you what, there is a camera in the front of Uncle Joseph's car, how about I go and get it, and show you how to use it and then you take pictures of everything for us?" Elle's crying had now stopped as she gave a big nod. "Alright then. You finish your dinner while I get the camera and some batteries, okay?" Another nod. Jac placed a soft kiss on her forehead before letting Elle wiggle back into her seat and moving out of the caravan to get the camera. She made a mad dash into the car to stop herself from getting soaked, sitting in the passenger seat.

"What the hell are you doing?" Joseph gave her an amused look.

"What does it look like? I'm stopping myself from getting soaked!" A small laugh came from her fiancé, who watched intently to see what she was rummaging around in the glove box for. Eventually, Jac pulled out a camera and her eyes fell on to his confused own. "I found a way to stop Elle being to sad. I've told her to take pictures to show us when she gets back." Joseph gave a nod and reached his arm around into the back of one of the seats.

"It's a good idea." He said, strained from stretching his arm. "Here." Joseph finally produced a packet of batteries. "She'll need these." Jac gave him a small smile. "God, we're going to have to sit though her showing us millions of pictures." He laughed.

"Yeah, it will make her smile though." Giving a light shrug, Jac pecked Joseph on the lips before saying, "Wish me luck." Then she made a mad dash out of the car and back into the caravan.

.

By the time it came to leaving, Elle had already taken sixty pictures, and was still running amuck with the camera, chasing her little cousins for pictures. Once again, Joseph cast a nervous glance at the time on his phone, before glancing outside and seeing the weather was no better. Nervously biting the inside of his cheek, he gave a sigh. Passing a sympathetic look to Jac over the weather, he looked back to the little girl.

"Elle, sweetie. We have to go now." There was a tone in his voice that suggested he was trying to tread carefully.

The blue eyes of his goddaughter looked up to meet his own, and he felt his heart break somewhat as the tears began to flow.

"Why can't you just stay?" She begged, walking over to him and clinging at his legs.

Carefully, Joseph bent down and picked her up, running his hand over her cheeks to wipe away the tears that were soon replaced by new ones.

"Because me and Aunt Jac have to work tomorrow." He gave her a kiss on her forehead, "But you're going to get us lots of pictures, and then when you come home we're going to go the cinema and look at them all, okay?" She gave a small nod. "Alright." Giving her another kiss, he gave her a tight hug and passed her over to Jac to do the same before letting her down on the floor. "You have a great time, okay?" Another nod came from the blonde as he wiped away the last of her tears before climbing down the caravan steps to the car.

.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Jac asked, for the thousandth time in the past hour.

The darkness had settled across the sky, and rain was still heavily lashing down against the windows. Joseph cast a quick glance to Jac who seemed to be more on edge than when they left.

"No, I'm fine driving, Jac. It's okay, you know, it's only a bit of rain." He looked again as Jac gave a nod. "Why don't you try and sleep until we arrive? I'll wake you up when we get there." Joseph took his hand off of the stirring wheel, to take Jac's hand into his own and lightly run his thumb over it. Until he saw her finally close her eyes and relax.


End file.
